What If Weed Could End the NFL's Concussion Epidemic?

The NFL recently earmarked $100 million to study head trauma, but none of that money will go to medical marijuana research. Derrick Morgan, starting linebacker for the Tennessee Titans, is the only active football player asking why.

The anecdotal evidence in favor of CBD—an element of cannabis called cannabidiol that is not psychoactive but still shows up on drug tests—is persuasive. Former NFL players Jake Plummer, Eugene Monroe, and others are vocal proponents. (Monroe was controversially cut from the Ravens after publicly supporting marijuana research. He retired a free agent, citing concerns for his health.) The research is limited, but promising: CBD could protect brain cells as well as promote cell growth, offsetting CTE, the degenerative brain disease caused by concussions and linked to depression, memory loss, and suicide. In other words, marijuana could work as both a preventative and healing measure to treat the battered brains of football players.

Morgan isn't naive; he knows the NFL won't endorse a drug considered illegal in most states, one still classified as Schedule 1 alongside heroin by the DEA. But professional football players have a right to research about their own brains, their bodies, their futures, he argues. Morgan talked to Esquire about the rigid rules of the NFL, opioids, and the players who risk their heads on the field ever Sunday.

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ESQ: How's your season going?

Morgan: It's going good. We got a win [against the Browns] and it looks like we're going in the right direction, so I'm happy about that.

Nice. So you are openly supporting research for understanding the impact of marijuana on NFL players. What about the research do you find promising?

The thing that I first saw was how the CBD oil was really helping kids out who have forms of neurodegenerative diseases like epilepsy and MS. When I see that, and I see kids who are having hundreds of seizures a week reduce their seizures to like, two or three after taking this CBD oil for a week—that really stood out to me. The thing that sparked my whole inquiring into cannabis was all the stuff that was coming out about CTE and traumatic brain injuries within the NFL. As a player, it concerned me. I started a search to try to find ways to be proactive and preventative of those conditions.

Once a lot more research is conducted, do you think the NFL will take more notice?

I think so. You know, the NFL is not going to really do too much with that research. They're not going to take marijuana off the banned substance list just because we're asking them to. I think it's going to be a process, and I think the first step in that process is the research.

What is your role specifically in this process?

Me? I'm just a regular player that kind of fell into this. For me, I really want other guys to know about it. I want to spread the awareness. The NFL is a tough league, you know? The average career is three years. But a lot of these guys have been playing football for countless years, so that's a lot of wear and tear on your body and your brain. Once you leave the game, you're kind of just left to your own devices. So I think that guys need to know what their options are. They might not be for everybody. But at least to know if cannabis can help somebody—protect their brain, manage pain better, whatever the case may be—I think they have a right to legitimate research.

"At least to know if cannabis can help somebody—protect their brain, manage pain better, whatever the case may be—I think they have a right to legitimate research."

What are your thoughts on opioids and all the painkillers that are prescribed to athletes right now?

Man, it's been going on since I've been in the league, which is why I think this conversation about cannabis is so relevant—the timing of everything is really unique. Given that there's an epidemic nationwide, it's just spilling into athletics. I think when you talk about the opioid prices and the epidemic going on, when you mention cannabis as an alternative, people should really look into it. Especially with guys in my profession, where you have to get to Sunday by any means necessary, it really isn't always a best scenario for your body. If you can avoid these addictive painkillers—a lot of guys get addicted to 'em—if there's a substitute that's just as effective, then I think that's a viable option.

A lot of football players are speaking out about CTE and cannabis, but they're all former players. Why is it important that you're the only active player talking about this publicly right now?

It's all from Eugene [Monroe]. When Eugene came out publicly, he took the most risk coming out by himself. I don't think I'm the only current player that is in support of it. But everybody's situation is different. Everybody's process is different. Like, I wasn't ready to talk about weed after the first research article that I read. It was a couple of months, a three- or four-month process of me educating myself, trying to understand to the best of my abilities what it can do for people medically. I think me being a current player gives the platform, but I feel like once more and more guys start understanding it and more word is spread that I won't be the only the one. Because the least the NFL can do right now is to research it.

Yeah, it's not like you're calling for the legalization or something drastic like that. You just want the research done.

Yeah, I think that's the first step to getting anything rolling. Like I said, the NFL is going to hide behind the fact that it's illegal federally, there's not credited research, whatever.

Are other players, like your teammates, having conversations about marijuana?

Yeah, definitely.

What's the tone of those conversations?

A lot of curiosity. Cannabis has been so stigmatized in this country that a lot of people are turned off from it or just have a wrong perspective of it. But when you start talking about it from a medical perspective, once you look at the research that's out there and you look at how it's being used medically, then it has a little more validity to it. So a lot of guys come to me really just wanting to know more. They know that I'm not going to put my neck out there and talk about something I don't believe in. So I share with them everything I know about it, offer up any resources I have to them, and just try to educate them to the best of my ability. You know, I'm not here to try and recruit people to join my cause. I'm just trying to educate people and spread the awareness so there will be more and more voices at the table.

Going back to Monroe, he retired and said that he was concerned about his health and concerned about concussions. Have you considered leaving the NFL?

Not necessarily considered leaving, no. I haven't really had any problems with concussions in my career. But we've seen that chronic, low-level impact is actually really what affects you. I'm at a point now where I'm 27, I've been playing football for the last 20 years, so I think that what's done is done. Hopefully, this CBD and all of this stuff can be a preventative and proactive thing that I can do once I'm done playing. But I think this is more important for the next generation of players that are coming up behind me and for former players who are dealing with symptoms from the game.

"They know that I'm not going to put my neck out there and talk about something I don't believe in."

Do you think the conversation about marijuana and its medical effects is something that can reach further than the NFL?

Definitely. The trend has already started in our country. In at least 25 states, it's in some way, shape, or form legal medically. And it's on several ballots in November to either fully legalize it recreationally or to legalize it for medical application. So I think the trend has already started. Federally, it's still a Schedule 1 drug. But I think that there are some conflicts of interest at play where pharmaceutical companies who don't have a monopoly on this stuff cannot benefit from the legalization. Pharmaceutical companies are very powerful: They have a lot of money and influence in politics. Until the powers that be, whether that be large pharmaceutical companies or what have you, fully capitalize off of legalizing it, then I don't really see it happening too soon.

The DEA had a chance to re-schedule it a few weeks ago from a Schedule 1 drug and that didn't happen. And that was kind of a surprise to me, being that there's so many medical applications for it. So it's contradictory in my opinion when you have patent on CBD as a neuroprotectant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a government agency. And yet, another government agency, the DEA, still classifies it as a Schedule 1 with no additional benefits. So, yeah, there's definitely politics involved. Hopefully the train can break through the barriers as far as getting it legal medically.

How has your team responded to your public advocacy for this?

I've got nothing but support from my team. I'm not going to say that they support my view, but they support me. And that's important. My goal is to make sure that the narrative and the whole objective of this is from a medical perspective. It's not about guys wanting to get high and just smoke weed recreationally; it's about medicine.

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